Housing costs cover different items for different types of tenure. For owners who have no mortgage, housing costs comprise the rates paid. For owners with a mortgage, housing costs consist of the value of the mortgage payments as well as property rates. For households renting their dwelling, housing costs comprise the regular rental amounts paid to landlords.

In the 2000-01 Survey of Income and Housing Costs, owners with a mortgage reported average housing costs of $220 per week, somewhat higher than the average housing costs for other forms of tenure (table 8.7). Households renting from private landlords had average weekly housing costs of $173, compared to $73 for tenants of state or territory housing authorities.

Source: ABS data available on request, Survey of Income and Housing Costs, 2000-01.

For many households, weekly housing costs are a significant proportion of their gross weekly income. In 2000-01, housing costs represented 17% of gross weekly income for owners with a mortgage, 18% of gross weekly income for tenants of a state or territory housing authority and 20% of gross weekly income for tenants renting from a private landlord (table 8.7). Housing costs as a proportion of income differed depending on tenure type, landlord type and household composition (graph 8.8 and table 8.9).